Violent Night's Writers Tease The Possibility Of Exploring Kris Kringle's Blood-Soaked Backstory
The number of Christmas movies to choose from includes a long list of comedies and romcoms that reflect the season's spirit. And while the roster of holiday films gets deeper and deeper every year, the number of films outside the usual genre that center around Christmas are few and far between. This year, audiences were treated to a musical and an action flick. Of course, with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell holding down the musical end with "Spirited," David Harbour followed the same route as "Die Hard" (commence the debate) with an action Christmas movie, "Violent Night."
The Christmas action flick follows Santa Claus (Harbour) as he steps into the wrong place at the right time. While dropping off gifts at the compound of the wealthy Gertrude Lightstone (Beverly D'Angelo), he stumbles upon a heist in progress. As the disillusioned Saint Nick thinks about abandoning the mansion to the people on the naughty list, the Lightstone granddaughter, Trudy (Leah Brady), connects with him over a walkie-talkie, begging him to stay. What follows is 90 minutes of John Wick-style action and bad Christmas puns.
According to Collider, the film has raked in $55 million in total box office against a $20 million budget, making it a healthy release for Universal. Like any cinematic success story, the overall positive reception (73% and 88% Rotten Tomatoes scores) sparked a conversation about sequels. In his review, Collider's Marco Vito Oddo commented that the film was a "solid holiday flick with the potential to spawn a new franchise." To make a movie about a badass Santa, there has to be passion, and the writers are showing that passion already with ideas of what the sequels could look like.
They want to explore Mrs. Claus and the elves
One of the most compelling aspects of "Violent Night" only had a few moments of screen time. Kris Kringle's background was revealed to be set in Viking times when he pillaged villages and had a penchant for bashing in the heads of his enemies with a large hammer. Writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller told SyFy that they would love to explore the backstory a little more, but while they would love an entire movie on his transformation from murderous Viking to magical gift-giver, there are other characters they want to bring to the sequel.
"We do have a great idea for what the elves will be like," Casey said. "If we get to do a sequel, the elves are gonna be great." The screenwriters went on to reveal that Mrs. Claus was originally a part of "Violent Night" in the script but had to be removed due to budgetary reasons. There was a scene involving a helicopter vs. reindeer that had to be cut, and an additional scene featuring her. "She still showed up, but she didn't really get to do anything awesome anymore," Casey says about the decision. "And we're like, 'Oh, if she's not gonna do anything, then let's just save her for the next one.'"
The writer's comments make it sound like there are definite plans to have Saint Nick's other half appear as less of a homemaker from the North Pole and more of a fellow badass warrior in the next film. Of course, a franchise of this nature could also expand beyond the North Pole and explore other avenues of legend.
There are more options for a Violent Night sequel
Since the film was produced by David Leitch's production company, 87North ("Bullet Train," "John Wick"), there is little doubt that the entire franchise, whether it be sequels or spin-offs, will be packed with as much action as the budget will allow. Because of that, the writers have already talked about things they could do other than pit Santa Claus against mercenaries.
"There's obviously room for all sorts of stuff. But the fact that our producers are 87North and their specialty is all these drag-out, bone-crunching fights, the impulse is to continue with Santa kicking the asses of a bunch of stuntmen rather than like fighting a monster necessarily," Pat Casey replied to SyFy's suggestion that Santa and the elves battle Yetis. "Although Santa versus some sort of monstrous Easter Bunny has come up." If the studio is keen to keep within its wheelhouse by pitting mythical characters against humans, they have an opportunity to create many more spin-offs. Characters like the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Cupid, Jack Frost, Mother Nature, and Father Time are primed to be added to the universe. While these characters aren't strangers to collaboration, there are some exciting possibilities the writers can explore.
Some of the characters showed up in Tim Allen's "The Santa Clause" franchise, and there was an animated movie, "Rise of the Guardians," that could be a blueprint for the writers to follow, featuring Santa and other mythical beings teaming up to stop forces of evil. Of course, all we have is speculation, and even though the writers are merely in the hopeful planning stage, nothing is definite as of yet.